ExoPC shows off some guts

The folks over at Engadget have posted some pictures of the ExoPC’s insides. With the recent return of the tablet craze (remember xp tablet edition?) we’re seeing tablets everywhere. This one has some promise on the hardware side, sporting a 1.6GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. Unfortunately we’ve heard using solely a tablet interface with windows7 is somewhat cumbersome even with the built in improvements. We’re not too worried though, a customized appliance style linux interface probably won’t be too far off.

The last couple times we mentioned tablet style computing, people have emailed us about the Touchbook. It also seems pretty cool, but seems like switching applications is visibly laggy in the demo video. Then again, a slimmed down interface might reduce some of that drag.

Post navigation

10 thoughts on “ExoPC shows off some guts”

While Linux works with Tablet PC’s panel (i.e. there are Wacom drivers), it really is a long way from Windows: there is no handwriting recognition, just CellWriter (and that’s slower than an on-screen keyboard), rotating the screen doesn’t work, because the tablet coordinates aren’t rotated as well (only works in some builds), and some stupid applications won’t recognize clicks made by tapping the pen.
But with an external keyboard, and if you don’t need portrait-format screen, it’s quite usable. (I miss some cool feature though, like Xournal, the Windows Journal clone, doesn’t have OCR, so you can’t do full-text search like in Windows.)

you know. all these tablets out, and they really don’t meet my definition of a true tablet. sure they dont have keyboards, they dont have tracpads, and most of them dont have rom drives. But there’s one thing that makes or breaks a tablet imho, a wacom digitizer. doesn’t even have to be wacom, just a digitizer to begin with would make these things so much more versital. I seriously think the companies that are producing these should take a look at who they are making them for. as a freelance artist, I was excited to hear about new tablets on the market. Ultimately I was saddened when through all my hard research I am yet to find a digitized verson of a “tablet”.

@wolfy,
I disagree. Though I’m a graphic designer and would really wan the cintiq/modbook style tablet, most people don’t need that. The cost and lack of bare finger (yeah, I know the new ones do it) support make it just not a good decision for the general public.

@ Caleb,
I agree that without the bare finger support that it would be a bad decision for the general public. Your average user would take a look at the stylus, and wonder why their pen wont write on paper. I’m not saying take out the bare finger approach out, but they should put the two together like in the HP tx-25xx series. I’ve used those and love the UI, but it’s just too bulky to be anything more than a table-top tablet. I want something I can take on the go so that I can bring my work with me. Perhaps I’m just wishing too far into the future. I can see the kind of tablet I want being mainstream in a few years, but I just don’t want to wait.

@wolfy2
believe me, I want that too. I want it soooo badly that I could almost live with a mac and get a modbook (you know, if I won the lottery). This, however, is not the part of the market that most of the tablets are targeting. They’re mostly targeting the netbook/appliance market.

@Caleb
HA! I had no clue that was yours. I always liked that instructo. I tried a similar approach with a Medion Tablet and my laptop, but the drivers needed adjustments that I never got around to. Medion makes a mean tablet for under $50, but they’re totally too picky when they want to work.

Win7 tablet works great! Nothing beats a keyboard, but it’s damn close. Linux + tablet = crap as cellwriter reminds me of the old palm days but even then you didn’t have to “train” it. XP tablet was OK, but Win7 can read my chicken scratches with ease. Add Win7’s built in voice command software and you should be good. Grab a usb/wireless/bluetooth keyboard for those long writing sessions and you’ll be gold!